Chapter 91: Rank

The increase in the Rank of a Cultivation Country, excluding certain special events, has only one method for those below Level Five Cultivation Country. As a Cultivator Cultivates alone until Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, and Nascent Soul Transformation, the Rank of their Cultivation Country will also increase level by level. If a Level One Cultivation Country has a native Cultivator reach the Core Formation Stage, the country will automatically ascend to a Level Two Cultivation Country.

If it has a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, it advances to a Level Three Cultivation Country. Following this pattern, if it has a Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator, it rises to a Level Four Cultivation Country, and if it has a Nascent Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator, it becomes a Level Five Cultivation Country.

Such upgrades, besides requiring time, also require immense Opportunity. The higher the Rank, the more difficult it becomes; often, it won't happen even once in a millennium. As for the ascent from Level Three to Level Four, or Level Four to Level Five, success might not be achieved even in ten thousand years.

Although difficult, this is the only method. As time passes, there will eventually be some people—whether through fortunate Opportunity, innate intelligence, other Opportunities, or external assistance—who meet the requirements and help their Cultivation Country ascend in Rank.

Without exception, these people will become the leaders of their respective cultivation Countries.

Once a Cultivation Country reaches Level Four, it gains the qualification to participate in the Outer Realm Battlefield, but in terms of strength, a Level Four Cultivation Country is fundamentally incomparable to a Level Five Cultivation Country.

The gap in Realm cannot be compensated by quantity. To give a simple example, the peak experts of a Level Four Cultivation Country, the powerhouses of the Soul Transformation Late Stage, would immediately be reduced to second-rate figures in a Level Five Cultivation Country. Before Nascent Soul Transformation Stage experts, they are like frail children.

It can even be said without exaggeration that, barring accidents, a single Nascent Soul Transformation Stage expert could destroy a Level Four Cultivation Country. Such events have occurred more than once in the history of the Cultivation World.

Therefore, the Outer Realm battles involving Level Four cultivation Countries are, frankly speaking, merely pawns in the conflicts between the Level Five cultivation Countries that back them.

The Outer Realm battles that truly play a decisive role are those fought between Level Five cultivation Countries.

Once a Cultivation Country reaches Level Five, the most severe problem it must first face is resources and Materials. With vast national power and countless Cultivators, if this problem cannot be solved within a certain period, then what awaits them is the collapse of the country and the dispersal of its people.

Even relying on robbing lower-Rank cultivation Countries cannot replenish the consumption of Materials and Spiritual Qi. There is only one way to solve this problem: ascending to Level Six.

The ascent from Level Five to Level Six is no longer as simple as a personal increase in cultivation. The method stipulated by the High-Rank Cultivation Alliance is also singular, and it involves the Outer Realm Battlefield.

The Outer Realm Battlefield is a space filled with Rifts. It is boundless and filled with various fierce wind and spatial crevices that can easily destroy Soul Transformation Stage experts.

Once struck by the fierce wind, unless one's cultivation reaches the Nascent Soul Transformation Stage, they will instantly be melted into ash.

Besides the fierce wind, the most unpredictable thing is the spatial Rifts that appear without warning. Once a Cultivator is sucked into one, even a Nascent Soul Transformation Old Monster cannot escape disaster. Only powerhouses from a Level Six Cultivation Country can move freely within the Outer Realm Battlefield.

Every few hundred years, a Great Outer Realm War occurs. The warring parties are all cultivation Countries of Level Four and above. This great war is allowed and promoted by the entire Cultivation Alliance.

Any country that achieves more than a thousand consecutive victories will have its Cultivation Country Rank raised to Level Six, acquiring a large amount of Materials and Cultivation Techniques. Furthermore, the winning side can select a representative to receive the Cultivation Alliance's Transmission of cultivation, directly raising their cultivation beyond the Nascent Soul Transformation Stage. Of course, the most critical reward, which drives the participating Level Five cultivation Countries mad, is the granting of a Planet by the Cultivation Alliance to serve as the winning Cultivation Country's base.

Cultivators highly value Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and various Heavenly Treasures, to the extent that the foundation of cultivation can be said to be Spiritual Qi and Materials.

Owning a Planet is the symbol of a Level Six Cultivation Country. However, the Cultivation Alliance's assessment of Level Six cultivation Countries is extremely strict. The first step requires a thousand consecutive victories in the Outer Realm Battlefield to be granted a Planet. The second step requires that within the designated Level Six Cultivation Planet, there must be several complete Level One to Level Five cultivation Countries to form a cycle.

The war in the Outer Realm Battlefield is the only way for Level Five cultivation Countries to upgrade. Similar events unfold on virtually every Cultivation Planet. Generally speaking, the Level Six Cultivation Country on a Cultivation Planet will not interfere with the battles between Level Five cultivation Countries. However, there are exceptions; if a Level Six Cultivation Country suppresses others, it's virtually impossible for a second Level Six Cultivation Country to appear on that Cultivation Planet. This situation is extremely rare, though. Based on the speculation of most Level Five cultivation Countries, the ascent from Level Six to Level Seven is likely related to how many Level Six cultivation Countries have previously emerged on that Cultivation Planet.

The frequent battles in the Outer Realm Battlefield leave behind many corpses and discarded Materials, which require regular cleanup. Level Six cultivation Countries have strict requirements regarding the cleanup work in the Outer Realm Battlefield: only cultivation Countries below Level Three are allowed to handle it. Some of these Materials are no less valuable than Heavenly Treasures to low-Rank cultivation Countries.

Based on the respective Level Five factions backing the Level Four cultivation Countries, the battlefield is divided into several areas, and so on.

Conflicts exist regardless of the Rank of the Cultivation Country. This is true even for the Level Three Cultivation Country, State of Zhao. It was in order to secure the work of cleaning up the Outer Realm Battlefield that Clearsight Valley came into existence.

Outside Clearsight Valley, there is a massive Formation Seal, which was set up thousands of years ago by a Soul Transformation Stage expert from a Level Four Cultivation Country who came here under orders. Any Cultivator above the Core Formation Stage but below the Soul Transformation Stage cannot enter.

This is why Teng Huayuan, knowing Wang Lin was inside the valley through the Heavenly Calculation Technique of a Cultivator with an immortal demeanor, was unable to enter and kill him.

Clearsight Valley is not only a contested area for the Outer Realm Battlefield cleanup work, but also the only entrance to the Outer Realm Battlefield located in the State of Zhao.

The requirements set by Level Six cultivation Countries for the Outer Realm Battlefield cleanup work, besides restricting entry only to cultivation Countries below Level Three, also stipulate that the cultivation of entrants must not exceed the Core Formation Stage.

Generally speaking, once the qualifications are confirmed, the Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators remaining in the valley will be teleported directly to the Outer Realm Battlefield without needing to leave the valley, and will only be collectively teleported back after the fifty-year period expires.

It was precisely because Teng Huayuan knew this that he massacred Wang Lin's entire clan, collected their souls, and forced Wang Lin to leave Clearsight Valley.

Otherwise, if he wanted to kill Wang Lin, he would have to wait fifty years.

At this moment, almost everyone in Clearsight Valley knows about a murderous fiend whose cultivation is unfathomably high. Some speculate he has already reached the Core Formation Stage but managed to enter the valley through unknown means.

Wang Lin continued walking north within Clearsight Valley. The Spiritual Power surged even more violently within his body, and the killing intent in his heart, far from diminishing due to the recent killings, grew even stronger.

His mind was blank. He had no idea how many people he had killed during this time, nor did he know that the survivors in the valley were already terrified of him, changing color at the mere mention of his name.

Several days later, Wang Lin, still deeply confused and lost, arrived at the northernmost edge of Clearsight Valley. This place was the bottom of a steep cliff. Climbing up from here would lead out of Clearsight Valley. Of course, under the effect of the Formation Seal, anyone attempting to leave would be instantly teleported back inside the valley upon touching the Formation.

During this period, whenever Wang Lin thought of his parents, his chest would seize up painfully—so painfully that he wished he could rip open his own chest, and so painfully that he would spit out several mouthfuls of heart blood each time.

As time passed, after several occurrences, his body grew weaker, yet the Spiritual Qi within him accelerated its advance toward the extreme realm.

Standing at the bottom of the cliff, Wang Lin looked up at the sky, then suddenly knelt down and heavily kowtowed several times. Two streams of bloody tears flowed from the corners of his eyes. He muttered internally, "Father, Mother, Tie Zhu is unfilial…"

"Alas…" A sigh echoed in Wang Lin's mind.

"When did you wake up?" Wang Lin stood up after kneeling for a long time, his eyes cold and severe, and he said in a deep voice.

"Five days ago. Wang Lin, I heard Teng Huayuan's message. The Soul Banner is a Magic Treasure that can only be crafted by those in the Nascent Soul Stage. It can Seal souls. As long as the souls haven't dispersed, I will have a way to revive them once I recover my cultivation," Situ Nan comforted him.

Wang Lin remained silent for a moment, then nodded heavily.

"Teng Huayuan killed your relatives because he was afraid you would run away; he is forcing you to show yourself. Wang Lin, I don't have much Nascent Soul Essence left. It can only support three Teleports for you. Use them carefully. I must continue sleeping, but I suggest you go to the Outer Realm Battlefield. There, I can shorten the time needed for my recovery," Situ Nan's voice grew weaker and finally disappeared.

"Three times…" Wang Lin's mind was clearer than ever before. He frowned and muttered to himself.